Chương 4
Luca opened his eyes.
Mara’s gaze shifted to him.
“That was not the operational plan.”
The room changed.
I looked at Luca.
He looked at the carpet.
“What does that mean?”
Mara answered before he could.
“You were supposed to be informed yesterday morning.”
“By whom?”
“Mr. Sterling’s attorney.”
I waited.
No one said anything.
“Which attorney?”
Luca stood too quickly and caught the edge of the desk.
“Celeste.”
The name landed differently now.
Celeste Rowe.
Front row.
Eyes on the floor.
One of the three people Luca had watched.
Mara took out her phone.
“Her instruction was explicit.”
“She never contacted me.”
Luca’s face had gone pale beneath the makeup.
“She told me she had.”
“When?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
The hurt inside me shifted shape.
It did not become smaller.
It became more complicated.
“You asked her?”
“I demanded confirmation.”
“And you accepted her word.”
“I couldn’t call you.”
“You could fake your own death, but you couldn’t verify that your wife knew you were alive?”
Mara interrupted.
“His communications were restricted because we believed at least one person inside his legal and executive team had access to company security logs and possibly his private accounts.”
I looked at her.
“You believed.”
“Yes.”
“Past tense?”
Mara did not answer immediately.
That was an answer.
Luca straightened.
“What happened?”
She looked at him.
“Victor Hale left the chapel three minutes ago.”
Luca swore.
“I thought the exits were covered.”
“They were.”
“Then how?”
“He didn’t use an exit.”
Mara tapped her phone.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
It showed an empty utility corridor and a narrow steel door standing open.
“Fire service access behind the old sacristy,” she said.
“Someone disabled the alarm.”
Luca looked toward the office door.
“Where’s Celeste?”
“Still in the chapel.”
“Graham?”
“Also there.”
I sat down because my legs had started shaking again.
The white rose was still in my hand.
I had forgotten about it completely.
One petal had torn loose and clung to my sleeve.
Mara spoke into her radio.
“Confirm Hale’s vehicle.”
Static answered.
Then a man’s voice.
“Black Mercedes is still on-site.”
Mara’s expression sharpened.
“He planned another ride.”
“Or he didn’t leave the grounds,” I said.
Both of them looked at me.
I hated that I was immediately useful.
Some instincts survive grief, rage, and forty-six hours without proper sleep.
“What was Victor doing before the arrests?”
Luca asked.
“Phone.”
“To whom?”
“I couldn’t see.”
Mara started toward the door.
I stopped her.
“He hid it when he saw me looking.”
She paused.
“Did he type?”
“No.”
“Call?”
“I didn’t see the screen.”
Luca frowned.
“What exactly did he do?”
I replayed the movement.
Phone flat against thigh.
Thumb near the side.
No visible typing.
“He might have pressed a button.”
Mara opened the door and called to someone in the corridor.
“Find out whether Hale has a panic device, vehicle remote, or security app tied to his phone.”
A man answered from outside.
I turned to Luca.
“What are they moving?”
“What?”
“You said you staged your death to make everyone who believed it move what they were hiding.”
“Yes.”
“What were you expecting them to move?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation made my stomach tighten.
“Money?”
“Some.”
“Records?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
He looked at Mara.
She gave him nothing.
I stood.
“What else, Luca?”
“A prototype.”
I stared at him.
“What prototype?”
“One of the battery control systems from our aerospace division.”
I almost laughed again.
Sterling Global manufactured industrial energy systems, grid hardware, and specialty electronics.
Luca had spent years explaining the divisions to me over dinners until I learned enough to stop asking questions that made engineers wince.
“A commercial prototype?”
“Not anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
“Defense contractors became interested last year.”
Mara cut in.
“Keep this general.”
Luca nodded.
“It has applications that make it export-controlled.”
There it was.
The deeper hole beneath the financial fraud.
Suddenly Wendy’s missing money mattered less than what the money might have been attached to.
“You think someone was stealing restricted technology.”
“We know someone copied design material.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“You faked your death without knowing who?”
“It was supposed to force whoever had access to act.”
“And Wendy?”
His jaw worked.
“She was moving money through shell vendors.”
“You knew that before today?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
I sat again.
Three weeks.
Our anniversary dinner.
The plain black dress.
The rose bushes.
The morning coffee.
Luca had kissed me in the kitchen while carrying a secret large enough to end his mother’s life as she knew it.
I pressed two fingers against my forehead.
“You used the funeral as bait.”
“No.”
I looked up.
He corrected himself.
“We used the belief that I was dead.”
“That distinction is going to save our marriage.”
“I’m not expecting anything to save our marriage today.”
The sentence hurt because it was the first completely sensible thing he had said.
Mara’s radio crackled.
“Hale located.”
Her hand went to the receiver.
“Where?”
“North parking lot.”
A pause followed.
Then the voice changed.
“He’s down.”
Luca stepped forward.
“What does down mean?”
Mara raised one hand to stop him.
“Conscious?”
“Negative.”
“Cause?”
“Unknown.”
I was already at the door when Mara blocked me.
“You stay here.”
“I’m a witness.”
“You’re also currently a potential target.”
“Based on what?”
She looked directly at me.
“Based on the fact that someone intentionally prevented you from learning your husband was alive.”
That finally silenced me.
Luca’s face had changed.
He was no longer looking toward the parking lot.
He was looking backward through the last forty-six hours, trying to understand who had been close enough to him to manipulate the plan.
Mara received another transmission.
Her eyes narrowed.
“What?”
The voice from the radio came through clearly this time.
“Hale has no wallet, no phone, and no shoes.”
I stared at Mara.
“No shoes?”
“Correct.”
Luca frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
It did not.
May you like
Not until I remembered the chapel.
Victor’s polished black shoes.
